Changes in IGCSE Economics Syllabus (2020-2022)
There will be changes in the syllabus of a subject over some time. As for IGCSE Economics, the current one is the (2017-2019) version, the new one being (2020-2022). Generally, the chapters and concepts still remain the same, but there are some changes which I will cover below.
Chapter 1 pretty much remains the same, except that the current syllabus emphasizes less on the evaluation of implications of particular courses of action in terms of opportunity cost, which was included in the previous syllabus.
As for chapter 2, the new syllabus content added the definitions of microeconomics and macroeconomics and how to distinguish between them. It further elaborates in the mixed economic system, which the previous content was merely about the allocation of resources in a mixed economy.
Currently, CIE adds in new elements: the consequences of market failure. It will be clearly explained here, including discussions about government intervention to combat market failures. Diagrams and graphs will be included to further aid students to understand the effects of microeconomic measures such as maximum and minimum prices; indirect taxation and subsidies.
Besides, the current syllabus will include private and social costs and benefits but will forgo the conflicts of interest of these in the short and long term as taught in the previous years.
This time, Chapter 3 is merged with the previous chapter 4, making it a large chapter. It covers the functions of money, earnings, savings and the different types of business organizations.
New syllabus removed the sub-chapter which explained the concept of stock exchange. Additionally, it includes the advantages & disadvantages of trade union activity. Moreover, the new content added in the influences on spending, saving and borrowing instead of talking about the motives of them like before. Students will get a depth understanding of the influences on their use of money, depending on their income, interest rate and confidence in the economy.
Moving on, from the year 2020 onwards, detailed knowledge of different type of structure is not required. There is no mention of types of business organizations like sole trader, multinationals and public limited companies. The new content only defined privatization in chapter 2 but did no detailed description of the effects of privatization and nationalization. Besides, a new topic small firms are included, which will also discuss the topic of advantages and disadvantages, challenges and reasons for starting up a small firm. In contrast, the theory of perfect and imperfect competition and diagrams are not required. The same applies to the pricing and output policies in a perfect competition market and monopoly. These concepts will be removed.
The only change in chapter 4 will be the removal of the discussion of the government's influence on private producers, which include regulations, subsidies, and taxes.
As for Chapter 5, there will be a more in-depth understanding of economic growth. The policies to promote economic growth, the causes and consequences of recession will be further explained. In this chapter CIE too add in new topics, for instance, the measurement of unemployment and policies to reduce it. Also, the policies to control inflation and deflation, which was not previously included. Students will then gain more insight into how the macroeconomy works and how the stakeholders can rectify the problem.
Lastly, for chapter 4, CIE removed the pros and cons of specialization at the regional level, though the national level will be discussed. The role of multinational companies will be taught which is a new concept. Not only that, the determination of foreign exchange rates in the FOREX market is included. Students will further learn about the pros and cons of both the floating exchange rate and fixed exchange rate. Last but not least, policies to achieve balance of payments stability is also introduced, which will aid the understanding of how a balance of payment can be relevant.
As mentioned above are the changes in the upcoming syllabus which will take place in the year 2020-2022. Those topics which are not mentioned will remain, though might with a different sequence.
Hope you all find this useful!
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Chapter 1 pretty much remains the same, except that the current syllabus emphasizes less on the evaluation of implications of particular courses of action in terms of opportunity cost, which was included in the previous syllabus.
As for chapter 2, the new syllabus content added the definitions of microeconomics and macroeconomics and how to distinguish between them. It further elaborates in the mixed economic system, which the previous content was merely about the allocation of resources in a mixed economy.
Currently, CIE adds in new elements: the consequences of market failure. It will be clearly explained here, including discussions about government intervention to combat market failures. Diagrams and graphs will be included to further aid students to understand the effects of microeconomic measures such as maximum and minimum prices; indirect taxation and subsidies.
Besides, the current syllabus will include private and social costs and benefits but will forgo the conflicts of interest of these in the short and long term as taught in the previous years.
This time, Chapter 3 is merged with the previous chapter 4, making it a large chapter. It covers the functions of money, earnings, savings and the different types of business organizations.
New syllabus removed the sub-chapter which explained the concept of stock exchange. Additionally, it includes the advantages & disadvantages of trade union activity. Moreover, the new content added in the influences on spending, saving and borrowing instead of talking about the motives of them like before. Students will get a depth understanding of the influences on their use of money, depending on their income, interest rate and confidence in the economy.
Moving on, from the year 2020 onwards, detailed knowledge of different type of structure is not required. There is no mention of types of business organizations like sole trader, multinationals and public limited companies. The new content only defined privatization in chapter 2 but did no detailed description of the effects of privatization and nationalization. Besides, a new topic small firms are included, which will also discuss the topic of advantages and disadvantages, challenges and reasons for starting up a small firm. In contrast, the theory of perfect and imperfect competition and diagrams are not required. The same applies to the pricing and output policies in a perfect competition market and monopoly. These concepts will be removed.
The only change in chapter 4 will be the removal of the discussion of the government's influence on private producers, which include regulations, subsidies, and taxes.
As for Chapter 5, there will be a more in-depth understanding of economic growth. The policies to promote economic growth, the causes and consequences of recession will be further explained. In this chapter CIE too add in new topics, for instance, the measurement of unemployment and policies to reduce it. Also, the policies to control inflation and deflation, which was not previously included. Students will then gain more insight into how the macroeconomy works and how the stakeholders can rectify the problem.
Lastly, for chapter 4, CIE removed the pros and cons of specialization at the regional level, though the national level will be discussed. The role of multinational companies will be taught which is a new concept. Not only that, the determination of foreign exchange rates in the FOREX market is included. Students will further learn about the pros and cons of both the floating exchange rate and fixed exchange rate. Last but not least, policies to achieve balance of payments stability is also introduced, which will aid the understanding of how a balance of payment can be relevant.
As mentioned above are the changes in the upcoming syllabus which will take place in the year 2020-2022. Those topics which are not mentioned will remain, though might with a different sequence.
Hope you all find this useful!
Posts that you may like :
hi. Do you know if there are changes to paper 2? Previously they got to choose 3 questions out of 7 but I read that now they have to choose 3 out of 4. Is that true?
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